


The Trial of Yon Rha

by Pidgeapodge



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Gen, Restitution, War Crimes, trial
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-05
Updated: 2020-07-05
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:14:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25079713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pidgeapodge/pseuds/Pidgeapodge
Summary: Yon Rha is arrested and tried for war crimes that he committed during the Hundred Year War. What will become of this miserable man now that he is finally facing justice?
Comments: 10
Kudos: 44





	The Trial of Yon Rha

Yon Rha lived in fear every moment after that fateful day. That day when the little Water Tribe girl tracked him down. The little girl, not so little anymore, with hair loopies and black clothes and the unmistakable fire of hatred in her eyes. Fire so intense, she might have bended it to burn him to a crisp right then and there.

It took a second, but Yon Rha recognized her. He had seen her so many years ago, when he killed her mother. He was on a mission to eliminate the last of the waterbenders from the Southern Water Tribe. The woman claimed to be this waterbender.

She was lying. It was her daughter. That same daughter hunted him to the Fire Nation, with the help of some teenage boy with an ugly scar on his face. It was raining when she faced him, and Yon Rha could only gasp in fear as the girl stopped the rain from falling.

The floating raindrops sharpened into points and froze solid. The icy spikes all turned to point at Yon Rha. They whizzed forward.

Yon Rha covered his face. He heard the icicles slam into the ground around him. He would surely die.

But, he didn't.

He slowly opened his eyes, and saw the barrage of icicles floating just centimeters from his face. The girl's hatred still blazed in her eyes.

He begged her to spare him. He even offered his own mother's life in exchange for his. She lost her mother, it was only fair, right?

The girl glared at him. "I always wondered what kind of person could do such a thing, but now that I see you, I think I understand. There's just nothing inside you, nothing at all. You're pathetic and sad and empty."

Yon Rha had bowed before the girl, begging for mercy.

"But as much as I hate you… I just can't do it," spat the girl. She and the boy with the scar turned from Yon Rha and walked away, leaving him to cry in the rain.

Yon Rha had never been the same since that day. He had come so close to dying. The girl had let him live, but what if she changed his mind and came back to finish the job? Yon Rha took to checking behind every corner, and sleeping with a knife under his pillow just in case. Even if the girl stayed firm in her decision not to kill him, that boy with the scar seemed plenty willing to do it for her.

Then, came unexpected news. Fire Lord Ozai had been dethroned and stripped of his bending. His son, Prince Zuko, became the new Fire Lord. With the news, portraits of the new Fire Lord were sent to each town in the Fire Nation. Yon Rha could have died from the shock alone.

Fire Lord Zuko was that kid with the scar who had helped the Water Tribe girl find him.

Yon Rha dropped what he was doing at the moment and ran. He didn't even say anything to his mother, he just ran. He ran all the way to the docks and bought a ticket in his mother's name, telling the sellers that they could go to his house to collect the money. He boarded the first ship out of the Fire Nation and didn't look back.

He had no doubt in his mind that Fire Lord Zuko would have him executed for killing his friend's mother.

The ship landed in some small Fire Nation colony in the Earth Kingdom near a larger one called Yu Dao, from where Yon Rha quickly disembarked into the Earth Kingdom proper. He stayed away from big cities, living either in small inns or camping in the forests. He may have been an old man, but his military experience served him well. He could do this.

And he did do it, until about a year and a half after Zuko was crowned as Fire Lord. Yon Rha thought he heard rustling around his campsite. He lit a fire in his palm and gazed around into the darkness.

Arrows whizzed out of the woods, pinning Yon Rha to a large tree. The arrows were fired so precisely, piercing his clothes but not his skin, that Yon Rha knew exactly who it was that fired them. The Yuyan Archers. Only the most elite force of archers in the Fire Nation, if not the world. Their skill was legendary.

And they had found him, no doubt at the behest of the Fire Lord.

Yon Rha struggled and kicked, when he saw green shadows flip into the light of his campfire. Three women in green dresses with black armor and white face paint came into view. They held metal war fans that glinted gold in the flickering light, angled towards him if he tried to make any sudden moves. That didn't stop Yon Rha from struggling against the arrows holding him in place.

One of the strange women, with brown hair and large, brownish-gray eyes put away her war fans and approached Yon Rha. He couldn't help but notice the sheathed katana in her belt right next to the war fans. Was she going to do it, right there, right then?

The strange girl drew closer to Yon Rha and struck. He barely saw her arms moving, but he felt the blows come to his arms and shoulders. They went limp and stopped struggling against the arrows. Yon Rha tried to move them, but he couldn't. They felt numb.

"Wha—what did you do to me?" he cried.

The girl ignored him. She turned to the warrior woman on her right, who had auburn hair and wore a more ornate headpiece than the others.

"I've successfully chi blocked him, Suki! He won't be able to firebend for a while now, at least not with his arms."

Yon Rha tried to kick out with his feet, but the archers had pinned his legs to the tree as well.

The girl with the headpiece, Suki, closed her war fans and nodded in approval. "Great work, Ty Lee. Now, let's bind his feet. Zuko wants him to face trial in the Fire Nation."

Yon Rha's blood went cold. He twisted his torso and tried to kick again, but it was useless. The chi-blocker, Ty Lee, and the other girl took out some rope and tied his legs together. They left just enough slack so that he could hobble along, but not enough for him to execute any foot-based firebending moves.

The Yuyan archers emerged from the shadows as well. The approached Yon Rha and roughly removed the arrows keeping him in place. Yon Rha fell flat on his face once the last arrow was wrenched free. He tried to block his fall, but his arms felt like jelly and he couldn't move them.

Two pairs of hands grabbed his arms and lifted him up. His captors pulled his arms behind his back and shackled them with chains, and then began pulling him along with them in the direction of the Fire Nation.

* * *

Apparently, Yon Rha had missed a lot during his time on the run. He learned through bits of chatter that floated through the bars of his cell in the brig that the former Fire Nation colony, Yu Dao, almost sparked a war between the Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom, but it was eventually resolved and allowed to exist as a mixture of Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation. Also, there had apparently been attempts on the new Fire Lord's life, both from loyalists to Fire Lord Ozai and from dissatisfied citizens from Yu Dao. Unfortunately for Yon Rha, none succeeded.

He learned that the warrior women who helped capture him were called the "Kyoshi Warriors," and that Fire Lord Zuko had hired them as his personal bodyguards, since they were apparently an elite fighting force in their own right. The one who had temporarily disrupted his bending, Ty Lee, was a chatterbox, and he learned the most when she was guarding his cell. She never spoke to him, but she often rambled on and on to whoever happened to be on guard duty with her. As a result, Yon Rha learned lots of useless information about some guy named Sokka who helped the Avatar and Fire Lord Zuko overthrow Ozai, and how cute he was, and how dreamy his blue eyes were, and how lucky Suki was to be dating him. He didn't care about any of this, but he was kept in chains in a small cell, so he didn't have anywhere to go or anything to do to stop Ty Lee's incessant talking.

The leader of the Kyoshi Warriors, Suki, seemed to treat Yon Rha with extra disdain. He didn't know why, since they never spoke to each other, but he recognized the glare in her eye, as well as the way she roughly handled anything that needed to be given to him, like food. If Yon Rha didn't know any better, he would have thought he did something to personally offend her. He couldn't recall anything, though. She seemed to be disgusted by his mere existence.

After several days of travel, the ship landed in the Fire Nation. Yon Rha was led out by the Kyoshi Warriors, still bound hand and foot in chains to prevent any firebending. He was brought outside and blinked at the sudden brightness of the sun. While he tried to clear his vision, he heard a male's voice cry out in their direction.

"Suki!"

The Kyoshi Warriors stopped moving Yon Rha, and he heard Suki run from her place in front of him to whoever had called. He blinked the spots out of his eyes and looked around, squinting.

Suki was tightly hugging a boy in blue clothes. He rubbed the back of her head and grinned into her auburn hair, before the two separated and gave each other a quick kiss on the lips. Yon Rha thought back to his time in the brig with Ty Lee as his guard. So this must be Sokka.

Sokka looked over and eyed Yon Rha. "So this is him?" he asked Suki. She nodded, frowning.

Yon Rha scowled at Sokka. Who did this peasant think he was, speaking about Yon Rha like that, standing there in the Fire Nation in his Water Tribe clothes—

Wait.

Water Tribe clothes?

Yon Rha gazed at Sokka again. He had the same tan skin, the same type of hair, even the same nose. Now Suki's harsh treatment of him made sense.

Sokka was somehow related to the Water Tribe girl who had almost killed him. And that girl's mother was likely a dear person to Sokka as well.

Yon Rha felt his knees go week, but the Kyoshi Warriors maintained a firm grip on him. Sokka walked over to Yon Rha and stared him in the eye.

Yon Rha could barely breathe. They were right by the harbor. Was this person a waterbender too?

Without saying anything, Sokka reeled back his hand and punched Yon Rha in the gut. Yon Rha doubled over, coughing. His vision exploded into stars as his brain tried to make sense of the sudden burst of pain.

"That was for my mother," said Sokka, turning away from Yon Rha and draping an arm over Suki.

The Kyoshi Warriors dragged Yon Rha forward, deaf to his fits of coughing and ignoring his limping, doubled-over gait. He walked like this through the streets of the Fire Nation, all the way to the Fire Nation Capital's prison.

* * *

Yon Rha was given a trial date and told of his charges. After several days in prison, he was brought to stand trial.

Instead of heading to the Royal Palace, like he thought, Yon Rha was brought to a much smaller (but still impressive) building in the capital's center. The prison guards brought him into a large room and sat him down at a table. Behind him were seats for people to watch the trial, and many of these seats were filled. A scribe sat at the front of the room before the large seat where the Fire Lord would likely sit in judgement, and the witness stand.

A gong rang, and someone called out, "All rise for the honorable Judge Huoying Yan." Yon Rha slowly stood up, as did all the people around him.

 _Judge Huoying Yan? Not the Fire Lord?_ wondered Yon Rha.

A man in impressive black and red robes strode to the seat at the head of the room. He took his seat and shuffled the papers placed in front of him. He cleared his throat and glared down at Yon Rha.

"Yon Rha of the Southern Raiders, you stand here accused of war crimes, including participating in a genocide against Southern waterbenders and the murder of Kya of the Southern Water Tribe, during your time as part of the Southern Raiders in the Hundred Year War. How do you plead?"

Yon Rha gulped. He had never seen this man before in his life. He raised a hand.

"Excuse me, your honor, sir, I am confused. Where is the Fire Lord? Isn't that how trials are conducted?"

The judge considered Yon Rha's question. "It appears that your time as a fugitive has left you ignorant to some of the changes made here in the Fire Nation. Fire Lord Zuko has established a court system separate from the Royal Family, so as to give those charged with a crime a fair trial. I am part of a special group of judges who are assigned to try cases relating to war crimes that occurred during the Hundred Year War. The Fire Lord will not be here to try you. Now, how do you plead?"

Yon Rha sighed with relief. The Fire Lord wasn't coming? Surely, he could work this to his advantage.

"Not guilty. I followed my orders as given to me, and served my country proudly."

The judge frowned. "If that is the case, then the trial may begin. If the first witness will step up?"

Yon Rha turned to see who this witness was, and his face dropped. It was that girl. She stepped up and took a seat on a platform next to the judge.

"Please state your name for the record," said the judge.

"Katara of the Southern Water Tribe, daughter of Chief Hakoda and Kya."

The judge nodded. "You say it was Yon Rha who murdered Kya, your mother?"

Katara nodded. "It was."

"You are sure, beyond a reasonable doubt, that this man before you is your mother's murderer, and that he came during a raid on the Southern Water Tribe?"

Katara scowled at Yon Rha. "Absolutely sure. I will never forget those eyes. He's the one who killed my mother."

"Thank you, Miss Katara. Does the defendant have anything to say in response to this?"

Yon Rha tried to control his shivering. "I've never seen this girl in my life!"

The judge looked to Katara.

"He's lying," said Katara. "Not only did I see him during the raid where he killed my mother, but Fire Lord Zuko and I confronted him near his home over a year ago."

The judge looked back to Yon Rha. "Yon Rha, do you have anything to say to this? Or would you like to revise your former statement?"

Yon Rha couldn't control his shaking now. "Fine, I did see her before, but this was a time of war! I was given my orders, and I carried them out! It's not my fault people die in a war!"

Katara looked ready to jump up from the stand and throttle Yon Rha, but she took a deep breath and calmed herself. The judge glanced over the papers in front of him.

"While it is unfortunate that people die in war, according to these charges, this was an unprovoked attack on a civilian area for the sole purpose of exterminating all waterbenders in the Southern Water Tribe. This is a war crime, an act of genocide even if you did not succeed. Is this not correct?"

Yon Rha gaped at the judge. "I had orders! Orders from Fire Lord Azulon himself."

"So you do not deny that you did this?"

"I had orders!"

"Ah, yes," said the judge. "Because someone else telling you to do something wrong _completely_ absolves you of responsibility for your actions." The judge paused. "Let the record show that my previous statement was sarcastic. I don't care whether or not you had orders, your actions were wrong. Do you know how many others tried to use that defense?"

Yon Rha opened and closed his mouth, but nothing came out.

"Thank you, Katara, no further questions. If the next witness could please come forward?"

Katara got down from the witness stand, glaring daggers at Yon Rha the whole time. The next witness to come up nearly made Yon Rha pee himself.

"That—that—that's Fire Lord Zuko! You said he wouldn't be here!" shouted Yon Rha.

The judge looked unconcerned. "I said the Fire Lord would not be trying you. That is my job. However, he has been called as a witness." He turned back to the Fire Lord. "If you could please state your name for the record, your majesty."

"I am Fire Lord Zuko," said the Fire Lord. His regal robes and serious expression, made even more intense by the pink scar on his face, clashed with his very youthful sounding voice.

"Fire Lord Zuko, you mentioned in the arrest warrant that Yon Rha admitted in front of you to killing Kya of the Southern Water Tribe, as well as admitted to attacking the Southern Water Tribe to kill the last waterbender. Could you please elaborate?"

The Fire Lord nodded. "Katara and I went to find Yon Rha to confront him about what he had done. When we found him, she made him try to remember her. He admitted that he remembered her, and he told us how he killed Katara's mother. Katara revealed that she was the waterbender, not her mother, but refrained from killing Yon Rha in revenge. Before he knew that she wouldn't kill him, he offered his own mother to her, refusing to accept responsibility himself."

Yon Rha could hear gasps behind him but he kept his gaze straight ahead.

The judge turned to Yon Rha. "Does the defendant have anything to say in his defense?"

Yon Rha shook his head "no." What could he say?

The judge turned back to Zuko. "Thank you, Your Majesty. You may go. Will the final witness come forward, please?"

The Fire Lord strode down from the witness stand, not even giving Yon Rha a second glance.

The final witness was led forward by a guard, clad in red prison garments and also bound in chains. Yon Rha's eyes nearly bulged out of his head. He knew this witness too.

"Please, state your name for the record."

"My name is Ao Zeng, Your Honor," said the elderly man.

"Mr. Zeng, you served in the Southern Raiders with the defendant, did you not?"

Zeng looked towards Yon Rha. "Yes, Your Honor."

"Can you please tell us the mission you were given? The final one."

Zeng Nodded. "We were told to go to the South Pole to kill a waterbender. There were rumors that a single waterbender had been born since the last ones had been kidnapped decades ago. The main force was to serve as a distraction while Yon Rha went into the village and killed the waterbender."

"And this was to exterminate the waterbenders in the South Pole?"

Zeng nodded. "And to permanently cripple the South Pole, yes."

The judge turned once again to Yon Rha. "Do you deny any of this?"

Yon Rha sat there, shaking his head. "We… we had orders."

The judge nodded. "Yes, you have said that already. Mr. Zeng, you may go."

Zeng left the witness stand and was led away by a guard.

"Yon Rha, I find you guilty of these crimes with which you have been charged. I sentence you…"

Yon Rha closed his eyes and held his head in his hands. Surely, he was to be executed.

"…to life in the Boiling Rock prison." A gong rang out as the verdict was read.

Yon Rha looked up. He was not to be executed?

"Guards, take him away."

Yon Rha was roughly taken from his seat and dragged away. They weren't going to kill him! Then it dawned on him… he was never going to taste freedom again. He would die, alone and miserable, in a small cell in the Boiling Rock.

Yon Rha felt his legs give out as he fainted with the realization.

**Author's Note:**

> I loved the Southern Raiders episode of Avatar: the Last Airbender, and I totally think Katara made the right choice by choosing to spare Yon Rha. Revenge isn't the way.
> 
> However, I do think that Yon Rha should pay for his crimes. This fic is the result of that.
> 
> In case it wasn't clear, life in prison is the maximum sentence. I have a headcanon that Zuko did away with the death penalty in the Fire Nation upon his ascent to the throne. Logically speaking, it doesn't make sense to me that, after Aang found a way to defeat Ozai without killing him, Zuko would still allow executions to happen. It also doesn't make sense to me that Zuko would keep Ozai alive but allow others to be executed, especially since he seemed totally fine with killing Ozai before Aang found out about energy bending. I like to think a bit of Aang's philosophy rubbed off on Zuko.
> 
> Also, the court system does not follow the same rules as the court systems you may be used to, because I just made it up. I mean, Zuko's only a teenager, he probably has a lot of bumps to fix regarding courts! Still better than the court in Chin Village!
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this! Please review!


End file.
